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Congressman Cohen Votes to Advance Three Gun Violence Prevention Bills to House Floor

September 11, 2019

Press Release

Says “this is the time we need to act”

WASHINGTON – Last night, Congressman Cohen voted for and the House Judiciary Committee passed a series of bills to help respond to gun violence. Those bills included H.R. 1236, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019, amended to include provisions from H.R. 3076, the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act; H.R. 1186, the Keep Americans Safe Act; and H.R. 2708, the Disarm Hate Act. Congressman Cohen is a cosponsor of all four bills.

During debate on the bills, Congressman Cohen encouraged his colleagues to pass them, saying “this is the time we need to act.” See his remarks here.

After the bills were approved by the committee, Congressman Cohen made the following statement:

“Recent mass shootings – including 53 people killed in August alone – remind us that the time to address this epidemic of gun violence is now. The measures passed tonight will save lives. We took historic action today to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have access to them while safeguarding Constitutional rights. I am proud to cosponsor and vote in favor of them in committee, and I look forward to passage by the full House.”

H.R. 1236, the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2019, amended to include provisions from H.R. 3076, passed by a vote of 22-16. The legislation also establishes a procedure for obtaining Extreme Risk Protection Orders in federal court to prevent those deemed a risk to themselves or others from accessing firearms and provides grants for states to adopt similar laws.

H.R.1186, the Keep Americans Safe Act, passed by a vote of 23-16. The legislation would ban high capacity ammunition magazines. These magazines are a critical feature that make semi-automatic guns particularly lethal.

H.R.2708, the Disarm Hate Act passed by a vote of 23-15. The legislation includes a provision prohibiting those convicted of violent misdemeanor hate crimes from possessing firearms, which would be accomplished through background checks.

On February 6, 2019, the House Judiciary Committee held a historic gun violence prevention hearing. On February 13, 2019, the House Judiciary Committee passed H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, by a vote of 23-15 and H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019, by a vote of 21-14. The full House passed both of these bills on February 28, 2019.